EPIK Reunion Brings In Hope, Experience

Teachers of English Program in Korea (EPIK) participate in a quiz game during their 2009 winter reunion at Capital Hotel, Itaewon, Friday.

/ Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Chris Grayson, 56, has taught English to middle school students in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, for eight years through the EPIK (English Program in Korea).

Being from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, he was a former stained glass artist. Seeking a new adventure, he came to Korea and started to teach in a private English institute or "hagwon" for two years before joining EPIK. "I chose Korea because I knew very little about Korea. It was a mystery to me," Grayson said.

Grayson liked the mountains and the sea of the port city and now meets his former students all around the city. "Korean students are bright and innocent. I see my students everywhere since Sokcho is a small town," he said. He also liked being a part of the regular school system and available to teach students of all classes.

He came to Seoul to participate in the biannual reunion of EPIK at Capital Hotel, Seoul, Friday. About 150 teachers who started teaching this March and veteran teachers who have taught in Korea for more than three years came to celebrate the completion of another semester.

Initiated by the National Institute for International Education, EPIK recruits native English teachers to teach and then assigns them to public schools.

Some 2,000 English teachers out of 8,000 total English teachers in Korea are affiliated with EPIK.

They receive requests from local education offices and recruit teachers from seven nations - the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The teachers are sent all over the nation from big cities' schools to small provincial schools.

The program holds orientation programs for candidate teachers for 10 days before sending them to the schools. Reunions are held twice a year, in July and December. The reunions, started in 2007, aim to establish a network of EPIK alumni.

Most EPIK participants hear about the program from recommendations from their friends and acquaintances, Kim Dong-hee, the director of EPIK, said.

"They play the role of 'ambassador' when they get back to their country. One person can bring 10 or even 100 more teachers to Korea and EPIK," she said.

All teachers are on one-year contracts and the renewal rate is around 50 percent.

Alexander Polzin, 23, from Michigan, U.S., joined EPIK thanks to his uncle's recommendation. His uncle, who worked as a visiting professor in Korea, wanted his nephew to work in the country as well.

Teaching English at three small middle schools in Yanggu, Gangwon Province, it is his first real job after graduating from Michigan State University with a degree in English literature. He came to Korea on a one-year plan and is planning to go back for graduate school.

"It is a great experience for me and I hope it is for my students as well," Polzin said. "I think EPIK is still building and will become even more successful. It will be a good chance for curious people who want to teach, travel the world and meet more people."

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr

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